Arab League Summit: Khartoum Declaration

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 KHARTOUM 000811

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/SPG, NEA/RA, AND IO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI AL US SU
SUBJECT: Arab League Summit: Khartoum Declaration

Ref: Khartoum 00791 (notal)


1. The Arab League Summit took place March 28-29 in
Khartoum (reftel). The Khartoum Declaration was printed
on March 30 by the daily London Al-Quds Al-Arabi in
Arabic.


2. The text of the Arab League Khartoum Declaration per
FBIS translation of the Al-Quds Al-Arabi publication is
as follows:

(Begin text)

Following is the full text of the final statement issued
by the Arab summit held in Khartoum two days ago:
We, the Arab countries' kings, presidents, and amirs,
meeting as the Arab League Summit Council in its 18th
regular session in Khartoum, capital of the Republic of
Sudan, on 28 and 29 Safar 1427 of the Hegira, March 2006,
have made a comprehensive assessment and a profound study
of the circumstances surrounding the Arab situation, Arab
relations, the conditions through which the nation is
passing, and the serious and imminent threats and dangers
that surround the Middle East process.

Taking into account the changes in the global order and
the major challenges that international developments pose
to the regional Arab order,

Reasserting our commitment to the principles and goals of
the Arab League Charter and our wish to implement them in
a way that guarantees Arab society's cohesiveness,
progress, and prosperity and helps achieve a
comprehensive revival,

And clinging to the noble objectives enshrined in the UN
Charter to ensure the establishment of a world of
freedom, equality, justice, and a united destiny, declare
the following:

We are fully committed to the Arab nation's united
destiny and goals and to the defense of its values and
entrenched traditions of liberation, independence, and
national sovereignty. We adhere to Arab solidarity as a
goal, a means, and a final objective to preserve Arab
national security and safeguard every Arab country's
security, sovereignty, and legitimate right to defend its
national sovereignty, resources, and destiny.
We reaffirm our commitment to the Arab League Charter and
the Arab agreements that seek to strengthen the bonds
among the Arab countries and people and that provide for
settling disputes peacefully through constructive
dialogue and diplomatic negotiations in a way that
guarantees the persistence of the strongest ties among
the sons of the Arab nation.

We call for further efforts to develop the Arab League
Charter, modernize the organization of collective Arab
action, and energize its methods to enable it to keep up
with the rapid changes on the world scene, allow it to
adopt developed and self-renewing policies to build an
Arab society that is fully integrated in its resources
and capabilities, and achieve lasting and comprehensive
development in a way appropriate to the coming era's new
challenges. These efforts should enable the Arab League,
its apparatuses, and organizations to renew their working
methods, develop their rules, fulfill pan-Arab
requirements, and keep up with new developments on the
regional and international scenes.

We assert our determination to implement Arab integration
by energizing the methods of collective Arab action and
implementing economic integration projects, particularly
the Arab Free Trade Region Agreement in a way that
enhances Arab commerce and enables it to remedy the
existing imbalances in the global trade system to reduce
the threats that face Arab industries as a result of
these imbalances, develop more partnerships, increase
mutual investments, and establish joint production
projects.

Adherence to the Arab Initiative

We reaffirm the Arab commitment to the option of
attaining a just and comprehensive Middle East peace. We
renew our adherence to the Arab peace initiative to solve
the Arab-Israeli conflict that was adopted by the Beirut
Arab summit in 2002, establish a just, comprehensive, and
lasting peace based on the return of all the occupied
Arab territories to their rightful owners in accordance

KHARTOUM 00000811 002 OF 006


with the land-for-peace principle and the Madrid
conference's terms of reference in the context of the
principles of international legitimacy and on the basis
of the relevant UN resolutions.

The Palestinian Elections

We declare our full support for the democratic exercise
in occupied Palestine. We commend the fairness and
transparency of the legislative elections and declare our
full support for the Palestinian National Authority under
the leadership of brother President Mahmud Abbas in its
constant endeavor to maintain the Palestinian people's
national unity. We call on the international community
to respect the Palestinian people's free choice of their
leader and to refrain from meddling in their internal
affairs. We reassert our firm belief that the
Palestinian National Authority is a full partner in the
peace process and our rejection of the unilateral Israeli
measures that seek to terminate the peace process.

We call on all international parties to adhere to the
principles of the UN Charter which provide for equality
of rights and self-determination for nations, and urge
them to implement the UN resolutions pertaining to the
Middle East peace process, especially UN Security Council
Resolutions 242 of 1967, 338 of 1973, and 1515 of 2003.
We also call for the implementation of the Madrid term of
reference that includes the land-for-peace principle, the
Arab peace initiative, and the immediate and complete
implementation of the road map in a manner that
guarantees the establishment of a comprehensive and just
peace in the Middle East and the elimination of the
causes of tension and instability in the region.

We urge the Quartet members to make efforts to implement
the road map in accordance with its declared objectives
of establishing an independent state that has sovereignty
over the entire territories occupied in 1967 and has
Jerusalem as its capital. We remain, meanwhile,
committed to a comprehensive solution and the need to
continue the peace process on all negotiating tracks.
We support the International Court of Justice's verdict
regarding the legal consequences of the establishment of
the racial separation wall in the occupied Palestinian
territories and the ICJ's assertion that self-
determination today is every nation's right. Seeing that
Israel's building of a separation wall in the occupied
Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem,
strongly hinders the Palestinian people's right to self-
determination, as the ICJ concluded, we renew our call to
the international community to demand that Israel remove
the separation wall immediately and without delay.

A Just Peace

We reaffirm our view that a just and lasting peace in the
Middle East cannot be established without full Israeli
withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories in the
Syrian Golan Heights and the Lebanese Shab'a Farms up to
the 4 June 1967 borders. We assert that regional
security and stability hinge on Israel's definite
commitment to the principle of the inadmissibility of the
seizure of the territories of others by force. We call
for the implementation of the relevant resolutions of
international legitimacy and building on the already made
achievements in the context of the Madrid peace
conference.

We appreciate the Arab countries' efforts to establish
the Al-Aqsa and Al-Quds Intifadah Fund and also the
efforts made by other Arab funds, financial and economic
establishments, and the institutions of collective Arab
action to extend financial aid to the Palestinian people.
We urge them to increase this aid. We appeal to the
donor countries to implement their commitments regarding
financial aid to the Palestinian people and direct it in
such a way that it will fulfill its declared objectives
of rehabilitating the Palestinian economy, consolidating
its native capabilities, and ending its dependence on the
Israeli economy as a contribution to the effort to
establish an independent Palestinian state.

Opposition to Attacks on Religions

We stress the need for cooperation, dialogue, and mutual
respect among all nations and cultures and the
establishment of a world of openness and tolerance. We
declare that respect for religious sanctities and beliefs
is a crucial factor in building mutual trust and

KHARTOUM 00000811 003 OF 006


extending bridges of friendship among nations. We
express our firm rejection and emphatic condemnation of
any attack on religions, religious symbols, and spiritual
values and call on the world's countries to enact laws
that criminalize assaults on religious sanctities. We
stress the importance of respecting freedom of opinion
and expression without encroaching on the firm belief
systems of nations.

We affirm the need to entrench a culture of dialogue
among civilizations and religions to promote global peace
and security and consolidate the values of tolerance and
peaceful co-existence. We advocate working with all
governments and international and regional organizations
to promote the methods of learning about and respecting
other cultures. We stress the need to pass a UN
resolution that will criminalize assaults on the
sanctities and symbols of all religions.

Darfur

We welcome again the signing of a comprehensive peace
agreement in the Republic of Sudan to end the conflict in
that country and call on all concerned regional and
international parties to make efforts to restore security
and stability to Sudan and extend aid and assistance to
rebuild the areas that were damaged during the war. We
exhort the international community and the donor
countries to fulfill their commitments to promote
comprehensive economic development in Sudan.

We call on the Sudanese parties participating in the
peace talks over Darfur to redouble their efforts to
reach a comprehensive and definitive agreement to solve
the Darfur crisis. We affirm our support for the African
Union's mission in remedying the Darfur problem and
supervising the cease-fire there. We oppose the dispatch
of any other military forces to that region without the
Sudanese Government's prior approval. We declare our
intention to increase the size of the Arab contingent
within the African Union's forces and to extend the
necessary financial aid to allow them to continue their
mission.

Rejection of Sanctions on Syria

We express our total solidarity with fraternal Syria
versus the US sanctions and express our astonishment and
anxiety over the US Congress' adoption of the so-called
Syria Accountability Act and consider it a circumvention
of international law, the UN resolutions, and the Arab
League Charter. We highly commend Syria's position that
advocates recourse to dialogue and diplomacy as a means
of reaching understanding among countries and settling
their disagreements.

Support for Lebanon

We support fraternal Lebanon's sovereign right to
exercise its political options in the context of
constitutional provisions and institutions and we back
its free decision to establish and strengthen its
relations of brotherhood, coordination, and cooperation
with the fraternal Arab countries. We demand that Israel
end its occupation of the Lebanese territories in line
with UN Security Council Resolution 525 and back
Lebanon's firm right to resist occupation by various
means until it liberates its territories from Israeli
occupation. We assert our support for Lebanese national
dialogue and call for uncovering the circumstances of the
criminal assassination of the martyr Rafiq al-Hariri,
former Lebanese prime minister and his colleagues, in
addition to uncovering the crimes that preceded and
followed that assassination. We back the adoption by the
Lebanese authorities of the necessary legal and judicial
procedures to impose just punishment on those who
perpetrated those crimes.

The UAE Islands

Wishing to maintain, bolster, and develop the fraternal
ties between the Arab countries and Iran, we call on the
Iranian Government to withdraw from the three Arab
islands and restore them to UAE sovereignty. We commend
the position adopted by the United Arab Emirates in
pursuing peaceful means and procedures to regain the
three islands.

Somalia


KHARTOUM 00000811 004 OF 006


We welcome the positive developments and achievements of
the Somali national reconciliation process and express
hope that the Somali brothers will complete rebuilding
their state institutions, entrench the process of
national reconciliation, and lay down the foundations of
national stability. We urge prompt assistance to the
Somali Government to enable it to carry out its tasks.

Iraqi Sovereignty

We reassert our solidarity with the Iraqi people and
their elected government and urge respect for Iraq's
sovereignty, territorial integrity, freedom, and
independence. We oppose intervention in its domestic
affairs and declare our respect for the Iraqi people's
free will, democratic choices, and the need to allow them
to determine their future by themselves. We express our
full condemnation of the terrorist acts that targeted
Iraq's hallowed shrines and tombs, mosques, and other
houses of worship and call on all segments of the Iraqi
population to cling to national unity and prevent anyone
from undermining the country's security and stability.
We urge full respect for the freedom of mosques, tombs,
and sanctities of all religions and sects.

We urge that the search continue to uncover the fate of
all Kuwaiti captives and missing persons and the fate of
the missing citizens of other countries in Iraq. We
express our heartfelt condolences for the families of the
victims whose remains have been identified. We express
our continued concern for those persons whose whereabouts
remain unknown and urge that efforts be made to learn
their fate.

Union of the Comoros

We declare our support for the positive developments in
Comoros, particularly in connection with the ongoing
implementation of the Moroni agreement for national
reconciliation and welcome the positive results of the
donor countries' conference and urge the prompt
allocation of funds to help the Union of the Comoros'
economic development.

Natural Disasters

We appeal to the Arab League member countries, the
concerned organizations of collective Arab action, donor
countries, and all international organizations to send
urgent relief food shipments to the inhabitants of
certain regions that face disastrous drought and
desertification in Niger, Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

Arab-African Cooperation

We assert the need for Arab-African cooperation and the
need to energize and revive its institutions and remove
the obstacles in its pth so that it will contribute
positively to the growth of Arab-African relations and
hasten economic development and progress in the Arab-
African region.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

We urge the international communidy todecl!re the MaddleQU`S|!A&2egiooQbrmdpn_lwa!t.~uofq`S|dQ| ees*4UQ1Qs|iu@b(I3oenS&R"grOeB-$Tu9QQbn{fQted Nations

We stress the need to reform the international order in a
way that will enable the United Nations to enhance its
competence and capabilities to confront the challenges
that the world is facing. We call for the establishment
of a balanced leadership and administrative structure
that will boost the United Nations' leadership capability
in a way that will ensure the establishment of global
peace and security. We also demand the expansion of the
UN Security Council's permanent membership to allow the
world's various geographical regions and cultures to
participate in managing the world order competently and
capably in a way that reflects the principle of global
cooperation and ensures justice, fairness, and
transparency.

Terrorism

KHARTOUM 00000811 005 OF 006



We declare our condemnation of all forms of terrorism
because it undermines a society's structure,
capabilities, and hard-earned gains. We regard the
crimes perpetrated by terrorist groups as serious
violations of people's political rights and a persistent
threat to the Arab countries' national security and
stability. We call for holding a UN-sponsored conference
that will agree on a definition of terrorism, distinguish
between Islam and terrorism, and differentiate between
terrorism and nations' rights to resist occupation.

National initiatives

We commend the Arab countries' consistent efforts to
promote democratic practices and competent management
including the establishment of transparent, responsible,
and accountable governments that allow the people to
participate in power. We call for the promotion of such
practices that fulfill the wishes of the Arab countries
and their populations. We declare our support for all
the national initiatives that seek to expand the base of
popular participation in government and official
departments in a way that guarantees national accord and
domestic peace.

Millennium Goals

We urge the global community to cooperate in promoting
the implementation of the millennium objectives including
the eradication of poverty and the fair distribution of
resources in a way that achieves all the internationally
agreed upon goals of attaining economic development and
eradicating poverty. This would include redoubling
financial aid especially to the less developed countries
and boosting the international efforts to cancel or
reduce their debts. We call for narrowing the gap
between the levels of economic and social development
between rich and poor nations and urge the Arab Social
Affairs Ministerial Council to continue its efforts to
implement the goals and principles of the Arab
Declaration of Millennium Goals until it fulfills its
objectives.

Discrimination Against Women and the Handicapped, and the
Right to Education

We assert the need to continue the efforts seeking to end
discrimination against women, make initiatives to spread
awareness of the Islamic and Arab principles that
guarantee a woman's natural rights and her role in
society, and pass the necessary legislation to protect
women and safeguard their status.

We call for adopting the necessary measures to ensure
that handicapped persons will enjoy equal rights with
other persons including the right to education, good
health care, and freedom from discrimination. We also
call for measures that will assist them to participate in
their society's activities. We urge the implementation
of the Arab contract for handicapped persons.

We emphasize all persons' right to education on the basis
of equal opportunity and absence of discrimination by
making elementary education compulsory and free. We
should also ensure that secondary education is available
to everybody on the basis of equal opportunity.

Scientific Research

We approve of measures to support scientific and
technological research, allocate and increase the
necessary funding for research, and boost cooperation
among the Arab countries' scientific and research
centers. The purpose of this is to provide the Arab
countries with the necessary scientific and technological
knowledge to boost comprehensive development and
advancement. We urge prompt measures to develop
scientific research with the aim of increasing production
capacity, facilitate the establishment of an information
technology society, and close the gap with the developed
world. We call for enabling young people to participate
actively in society's economic, social, and cultural
activities and giving them the right to express their
ideas and hopes so that they may participate in society's
political life. We should also provide them with
employment opportunities.

We wish to address special thanks and appreciation to His
Excellency President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, president of

KHARTOUM 00000811 006 OF 006


the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, for his
valuable efforts and great contributions since he chaired
the former Arab summit, which helped promote and develop
the process of collective Arab action.

We express great thanks and gratitude to His Excellency
President Umar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir for his competent
management of this summit and his perspicacity in
directing its deliberations. We express our total
confidence that during his chairmanship collective Arab
action will make further achievements and develop in a
way that will serve the Arab nation especially as
President Al-Bashir is known for his wisdom, experience,
and desire for renewal.

We express our great gratitude to the Republic of Sudan
and its generous people for the warm welcome and
hospitality that they have accorded us and for their
excellent organization of the meetings of the 18th
session of the Arab League Summit Council. We greatly
appreciate their fine performance and good preparation
and the intensive consultations that they held with all
the Arab countries to ensure the summit's success and to
hold it in the best possible and most fortuitous
circumstances.

We also express our appreciation for and take pride in
the efforts made by Arab League Secretary General Amr
Musa in this regard.

(End text)

STEINFELD